The Japanese warship was a warship of the troops loyal to the Shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 during the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in 1868. She was armed with 13 cannons, had a complement of 153 men, a displacement of 710 tons, and an engine of 400 hp capable of generating a speed of 12 knots. Her length was 68.4 meters, width was 10.6 meters. She was originally built by Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 as the SMS Danzig

SMS Danzig (1851)

The SMS Danzig was the first steam-powered warship in the Prussian Navy. It is most notable for its part in the battle of Tres Forcas in 1856...

 in the harbour of Danzig.

She was the key actor in the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay, in which, after a failed attempt to board and overtake the , she was forced to flee ahead of the Imperial Navy. She was then the flagship of the rebel navy during the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay.

In the late Meiji Era

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

, Arai Ikunosuke

Arai Ikunosuke

was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period. Prominent as Navy Minister of the Republic of Ezo, he later became famous as the first head of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Also known as or .-Early life:...

, once the Navy Minister of the Republic of Ezo

Republic of Ezo

The ' was a short-lived state established by former Tokugawa retainers in what is now known as Hokkaidō, the large but sparsely populated northernmost island in modern Japan.-Background:...

, wrote an extensive article on the Kaiten in the historical journal "Kyū Bakufu".